


0000 d 0000 h 00 m 00 s

by the_world_only_began_today



Category: Smosh
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fate, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-02
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-10 05:57:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3279305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_world_only_began_today/pseuds/the_world_only_began_today
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ian just wants to pass his last year at school with his friends, but Fate has other plans and somehow Anthony Padilla is involved in them. </p><p> <br/><i>Ian Hecox had never been a good time keeper. </i><br/>[...]<br/><i>And so it was no wonder that he absolutely forgot about his countdown when there were better things to do like playing video games with David or going running in the sun-drenched streets of Carmichael.</i><br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

                                                                                                 -0049 d 07 h 23 m 47s-

Ian Hecox had never been a good time keeper.

He had been late on his first day of primary school and he had nearly missed his train that one time he had visited his grandmother the very first time on his own. Although his mom had tried to force him into being punctual for school by turning all hands of their clocks in their home ten minutes ahead it still did not work.

Ian was just terribly unorganised concerning time.

And so it was no wonder that he absolutely forgot about his countdown when there were better things to do like playing video games with David or going running in the sun-drenched streets of Carmichael.

One night though filled by too many thoughts to let him fall asleep had him sitting on his bed, leaned against the cold wall and staring down at the numbers on the inside of his wrist, constantly running down. He could vaguely recall a time in which he had been too young to know what those weird, fleeting symbols meant and they had soothed him, for it was a constant and gracious flow of them.

Now, the effect had changed.

When Ian stared at the numbers softly rewriting themselves, dark in contrast to his pale skin, he felt anticipation, if not even panic building up in his chest.

                                                                                               -0023 d 16 h 53 m 41 s-

“I can’t wait, you know”

Melanie gushed, swinging elegantly next to Ian who grunted unintelligibly, kicking himself off the sandy ground. They were out while babysitting Melanie’s little brother Joe who was sitting on the climbing frame, cheerfully scattering sand on anyone who would pass it.

“Don’t do that”

Melanie shouted half-heartedly, did not make any attempt though to stop her swing.

“Don’t pretend you don’t care about it.”

Ian sighed and averted her eyes, instead looking up at the cloudless sky.

“How long’s yours away?” she asked.

“Mine? Oh, like about a year.” He lied, smoothly.

“I’ve got exactly 432 days left”

she smiled, dreamily, and unconsciously tracing the to Ian invisible numbers on her wrist.

“Seriously, I am so thankful for it, I can already plan what I want to wear on that day- I will know I have to shave.”

Ian grinned and Mel rambled on and on, discussing whether she should wear something cute or cool that day. Ian listened, relieved that they did not discuss the countdown anymore.

He only interrupted her when Joe had started eating a sand cake he had baked.

                                                                                              -0007 d 13 h 26 m 05 s-

“One week and school starts again”

David remarked, killing off Ian’s character for the about twentieth time today with one hand and reaching for his soft drink with the other. Ian made a face having a minor heart attack when he realized what day his countdown would run out on. Joshua groaned and listlessly threw his controller away when David had treated him with a nice kick into the face as well.

“Can’t wait to get out of high school”

he remarked, grabbing for the bag of chips.

“Well, they can suck it, because it’s our last year, bitches.”

David highlighted his last words with a brutal headshot.

“Seriously, I’m never playing this game with you again” Ian complained “It’s time you stop being such a lousy cheater.”

“Ian’s just a little bitch because he hasn’t beaten me once in this game.”

Joven laughed.

“It’s time Matt comes back from his aunt’s so that he can beat your ass and you stop being a d-bag about it.”

“Whatever” David grinned “You wanna meet up tomorrow to have a Mario World Cup of Epicness?”

Ian and Joven exchanged a short look:

“Hell Yeah.”

                                                                                          -0001 d 00 h 00 m 01 s-

Although Ian had more or less successfully pretended for the whole day he did not know what was going to happen tomorrow he did see the count of remaining days change to zero and he realized that they would stay like this for the rest of his life.

Soon, all of these numbers would come to a halt forever.

                                                                                          -0000 d 03 h 53 m 49 s-

Ian woke up, strangely on edge, taking in every single detail of his room that looked like always, messy and a bit dusty in the corners. But now, it seemed to mock him as if pretending everything was normal would make it easier.

“It was your choice to tell no one, Ian”

he muttered and decidedly stood up to head for a shower. He was quiet when he was eating his breakfast, but his mom took it as his usual grudge and anticipation on the first day back to school.

When he finally left his house with his backpack and PE kit he pondered for a short moment whether he should have told his mother after all, just to dismiss the thought immediately.

 _No_ , he thought while entering the bus and searching the packed seats of stressed looking first graders and gum chewing teenagers for Melanie, _it would do no good at all_.

He smiled at her and she enthusiastically started talking about something he could bring himself to only listen half-heartedly to.

Melanie was one of his favourite people ever, but she would be hysterical, loud and embarrassing about it. Ian knew her long and well enough to tell.

The ride continued and Joven entered after a while, sitting behind them and inventing a list with Melanie naming all the things they had to do for the last time today and agreed that they both certainly would not miss the welcoming assembly taking up their first period today.

Ian subtly glanced at his wrist.

                                                                                       -0000 d 01 h 33 m 14 s-

Finally, they exited the bus to be met by the great, ugly building they had so desperately avoided all summer long and it made Ian’s stomach lurch when he thought of what it had in store for him today. They were joined by their friend Ryan and David who had come by bike, joking and laughing about something. Ian forced himself to laugh when they retold it, not even hearing what they were saying.

The corridors were filled, mostly by people Ian had not felt the desire to see again.

He might have slammed his locker door a bit harder than necessary after stashing his track kit away, but it didn’t resolve the tension in his chest like he had hoped.

                                                                                       -0000 d 01 h 03 m 47 s-

Assembly hall filled with hundreds of reluctant faces and they searched for a seat at the very back of the hall. Ian had never in his whole life managed to stay focussed for the whole speech the Head master always gave, rambling about a “fresh, new start”, “amazing opportunities” and “values of the community of the school”, but this year he did not listen to a single word, instead watching the numbers run and fade on his arm, his heart beating in sync with them.

                                                                                       -0000 d 00 h 13 m 24 s-

Assembly was finished and they all made their way to the different classroom, Ian looking at his time table to realize he had English first.

“You in my course? Awesome”

David grinned and raised his hand for a high five that Ian returned, feeling as if his arm was shaking uncontrollably when he raised it.

“Ugh, we’re up on second floor”

they climbed up the stuffy, old staircase ringing with chatter and laughter.

Room 251 was already filled by most students, but a few seats were not taken yet. They slumped down in some chairs in third row and David started eating a tuna sandwich. Ian’s stomach rebelled already at the thought of food.

                                                                                       -0000 d 00 h 02 m 15 s-

His heart rate was out of his control and he was glad he was sitting.

Subtly, he glanced around.

 _It’s none of these idiots_.

Good.

He was tapping rhythms on his desk to distract himself, but he couldn’t even fool himself.

                                                                                       -0000 d 00 h 01 m 00 s-

Panic bubbled up in his chest when he slowly saw the room filling, nearly every seat was taken by now.

Where was she going to sit?

He filtered every noise out, as if he was turning down the volume of a radio, mushy noise in the back of his head.

Half a minute left.

David was starting to reluctantly pack away his sandwich and turned to Ian:

“Hey, you have a pen?”

Ian wordlessly pressed a stylo into his hand.

17 seconds left.

What if she did not turn up?

15 seconds left.

What if there was nobody to come? Was that possible?

                                                                                       -0000 d 00 h 00 m 10 s-

What would happen if he would suffer a stroke? He didn’t want to die yet.

His eyes frantically darted from his wrist to the door and back again.

Three seconds.

_I will faint. Either that or vomit._

Two seconds.

_I should have told mom._

One second.

_I am not ready for this._

                                                                                       -0000 d 00 h 00 m 00 s-

The door opened with a crash, when someone entered with a huge stack of books piled up in a wobbly tower in front of them.

They did not steer to the last empty seat across from Ian, though.

With a sigh, the books were dropped on the teacher’s desk.

Ian’s heart stopped for an eternity when the person finally turned around, gave the class an insecure smile and said:

“Hi, I’m Anthony Padilla, and I’m looking forward to teach you in English this year.”


	2. Standing Still

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian has to deal with the fact that his soulmate is his English teacher. Oh, and incidentally he has to survive high school.

Out. _Out and away_ , Ian’s mind was screaming at him while his body was sitting numb and rigid in his chair.

A fly buzzed against the window pane. How stupid to think of it that it could circumvent the inevitable.

Ian’s knuckles were white and he felt the blood pulsing in his neck. He could only nod when Anthony Padilla read out the attendance list, only bow his head to his predestined downfall.

The time that had hastened so much, run headfirst into this catastrophe, now stretched like old chewing gum, sticky and repulsive. It seemed to have frozen, stopped forever like the small digits on his wrist.

The room was as quiet as it usually was when a stranger held their first lesson and Ian hated it, hated that there was no normal buzz of voices and scratches of chairs to distract him.

Mr Padilla talked on about their plans for the first school term and started handing out the books that had shielded his face from Ian at the beginning and Ian was met with a copy of “To Kill A Mockingbird”. Even the usual moans and quiet protest that always came up when their old teacher had announced a new lecture were missing.

But now Ian’s hands were distracted and traced the corners of the black cover.

There was, at least, a vocal reaction when Mr Padilla announced that they would have to start a reader’s journal which was to be handed in at the end of the term and made up a third of their grade.

“For fuck’s sake”

David grumbled quietly next to him and Ian who cast him a quick glance could see that his stylo was dissected into pieces.

Ian’s nerves had already been dangerously strained but were even more tested when the door opened halfway through the lesson to reveal an uneasy looking, Asian girl asking whether this was the right classroom she was in and that she was new and had just finished her reception with the head master. She was extremely pretty and had a side cut that was dyed blue and wore run-down Batman sneakers and was seventeen minutes late.

Why had the headmaster taken so long? Why couldn’t she have entered the room just before Anthony Padilla?

Why, why, _why?_

David shot him a look that suggested he did not mind at all that she was sitting right in front of him and Ian was cursing the universe.

-0000 d 0000 h 00 m 00 s-

The cafeteria was loud and bursting full of students that tried to either get their food or throw what had been inedible away, as well as people possessively clutching their trays to their chest trying to get a seat.

Ian moved to the old-established seating spot in the very corner of the cafeteria where their little group of friends had always sat since they had started hanging out together. Ian dropped his tray containing two soggy sandwiches and a pot of jello on the table, already done with the day, although he had only had English and History until now.

Ryan, David and Joshua were exchanging Pokémon cards and looked up open-mouthed when Melanie arrived, the new girl from English in tow.

“This is Mari and we just had Textiles together and she’s new and so I thought I would bring her with me.”

Mel chattered and the boys were all nodding eagerly.

“Nice to meet you.”

Mari smiled shortly and Ian thought that it must be horrible to change schools for the last year. After a small, awkward silence in which Ian buried himself into his sandwiches, Mari asked whether they had any Pokémon EX cards and was quickly included in their trading discussions.

Ian was grateful that he just had to sit and watch, inconspicuously following his own thoughts.

-0000 d 0000 h 00 m 00 s-

_It had to be a mistake._

There was not a doubt in that.

Soulmates were supposed to be good for each other, right?

Someone to marry and have children with in a little house behind a white picket fence. Someone to hold onto and to be assured by that they would always be there, someone to love.

Ian was angry.

How the fuck was he ever going to live down that his soulmate was a man and overall his teacher? How was he supposed to act on something like that?

The answer that Ian got out of staring at the gray school walls, the moving by houses and trees was that he was simply never going to end up with his soulmate.

But who the fuck decided anyways that someone was meant to be?

How could some numbers rule over someone’s destiny?

How, how, _how?_

His mother had made his favourite pie, sort of as a compensation of having to get back to school and was cheerily greeting him when he entered, stomach rumbling not half as much as his mind.

“How was your first day back, sweetie?”

she said, pushing a plate towards him, pie still steaming and smelling like home.

“Hm.”

He murmured.

“How was the assembly?”

“Like always.”

But unlike usually not the worst part of first day.

“Any changes in curriculum? Any new teachers?”

Ian’s stomach twisted like a balloon animal and he stopped chewing.

“Mr Weston’s retired.”

His mum looked up from her own plate:

“Oh what a shame, you were so good in English with him.”

Ian remained silent, hoping the topic would be finished and never brought up again.

-0000 d 0000 h 00 m 00 s-

Ian was still not very good at time-keeping and the minutes, days and weeks started to slip from his grasp, seemingly by the blink of an eye. The pages in his homework planner were turned, one by one, and instead of being filled with notifications about his biology assessment they were completely doodled over.

He had to do something in English, now that he could not meet his teacher’s eyes anymore.

“To Kill A Mockingbird” though was carried everywhere he went.

It turned into his thing.

Like in his first English lesson it calmed him to have something to hold onto when he was at loss with his surroundings. He even brought it to his weekly meet ups with David, Joshua and Matt where it lay, ceased and for a moment forgotten, while he miserably lost against Matt who happened to be outrageously good at any videogame they played.

School turned to be even more of a place that Ian despised, because additionally to his English lesson in which Ian had to hide, Anthony Padilla one Tuesday afternoon turned up in his Track lesson, smiled more confidently than on his first day and said that as an English and PE teacher he was obviously very interested in the school’s extracurricular physical activities.

 _Then go watch the fucking football team!_ Ian would have liked to shout, but instead smiled miserably when Mr Padilla offered him a “Oh, hello, Ian”.

Melanie who was in so many ways very similar to Ian had one significant difference that completely opposed him.

She adored Mr Padilla.

The first time her and Ian had crossed him in the hallway and he had nodded friendly in Ian’s direction Mel had thrown him a blinding smile and, when they had turned around a corner and out of his sight, bombarded him with questions who this “hottie” had been, deflating slightly when he told her, teeth gritted, that he was Ian’s English teacher.

For a moment of madness he thought about just telling her that Mr Padilla was a bit more than that to him, but immediately dismissed the idea again.

Why tell of something that had never been real?

From that moment on, Mel had made it her task to constantly look out for Mr Padilla and inform everyone in their group of friends detailedly about what he was wearing and how dreamy he had looked.

“A leather jacket, Ian, what teacher wears a leather jacket and looks hot in it?”

Ian hated school. He hated students that had annoyed him for half of his life by now, but especially, he hated teachers, particularly those that were supposedly his soulmate, fancied by his best friend and invading the only subjects he had enjoyed until now.

Even David was further in his reading journal than Ian and David had never in his whole life voluntarily even touched a book. Sometimes Ian even wondered whether he was fully capable of reading.

Speaking of David, he was currently sitting next to Ian in the library while they were supposed to do some research on the discovery of radio activity and rambled on about his Birthday party that would take place in roughly two weeks and that he still had not decided on a theme yet. The librarian, an old and ill-tempered lady, had shot them several sour looks already and Ian thought that David was testing his luck.

“So I thought about inviting Mari, that’s a good idea, right?”

“Right”, Ian mumbled and crossed out the scientist’s name for the third time in a row. Why was there anyone called Becquerel?

"What do you think of a Star Wars themed party?”

“Hell yeah I’m in, but it’s gonna be one week after the new movie’s out and we all know it’s going to be shit, so maybe something else...”

Mr Padilla had just entered the library with a stack of dictionaries and Ian could not help but follow the back of his head with his eyes, as it moved through the bookshelves and away into the Language Department.

He remembered that he had Track today and sighed, resigned.

Mel had started hanging out around the cinder track when she had heard that Mr Padilla was a new part of the trainer’s team. She sat on the bleachers, sometimes Mari next to her whose nose was usually buried in a Comic book, and would join their team after the training, picking up light banter with Mr Padilla who always helped restacking the training utensils into the equipment room.

Ian would hover a few metres behind, hoping to god that she would hurry up so that they could leave.

Friday evening before David’s party- he had decided on a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme- Ian was alone in the changing room, stuffing his dirty track clothes into his bag and slinging it over his shoulder, ready to leave, when there was a light knock on the door.

Ian scrunched up his nose- Mel had a dentist appointment and the other boys had left already.

He opened the door and his heart sank when he saw that Mr Padilla was across from him, smiling imperceptibly.

“You forgot your book on the bleachers.”

He was holding the tattered copy of “To Kill A Mockingbird” in his hand.

“You might not want to lose that.”

Ian grabbed it and instinctively pressed it to his stomach.

“How did you like it so far?”

Mr Padilla asked, while they left the building and he locked the door up.

“Very much.”

Ian mumbled.

He did not tell that he had not even started on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys,  
> sorry for letting you wait for so long. I love this story, but it takes quite a time to develop everything.  
> Thanks for being patient.  
> Please tell me what you think about it.  
> Lots of love,  
> Lucy


	3. Mario (and) Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While others find it easier to arrange themselves with their Soulmates, Ian only reluctantly spends time with his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains spoilers to the book "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.  
> In case you haven't read it yet, I strongly suggest it to you, it's brilliant! :)

Ian met up with Melanie to walk to the party with her together and she looked amazing in her Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles leggings and the oversize Leonardo Sweater she was wearing. He had to laugh when she told him that the Turtles mask that was holding back her hair had been made out of an old pair of blue socks she had stolen from her father.

It was an unusually cold evening for the end of September and they were glad when they arrived at the small and cramped place David had rented for his Birthday. When they entered they saw that only Matt and their friend Brian were there yet, but they were intensely wrapped into a fight with their Katanas- Ian had the strong suspicion that they were responsible for the knocked over chips bowl on the buffet.

After a while, David came in from an adjoining room and spread his arms to dramatically welcome Melanie and him. He had the same Turtle Shell backpack as Ian and gave him an approving high-five.

At that moment, a small group of people piled in, old friends from David’s primary school. Ian particularly remembered Wes and Flitz, two guys who were as loud as they were tall. He remembered well last year’s birthday party at which they had thrown a cake at David’s face, but missed and hit Mel in the back of the head instead. Joshua was among them and tackled David in a bear hug.

“Happy Birthday, man.”

Ian sidled up to the buffet and began eating his way through the assorted fast food, only looking up when he heard Melanie squealing “Mari, finally!” It was super unfair that Mari had turned up so shortly after Mr Padilla, Ian thought again. She was gorgeous- she and Mel wore matching leggings and she had green makeup on and managed not to look horrible with it (which was an achievement considering the fact that she was dressed up as a turtle).

Nevertheless, when Ian looked around in the room, he saw that he was not the only one impressed by her.

Matt was looking so completely star struck that it seemed like he was frozen in admiration. Ian was pretty sure that he heard nothing of what David was excitedly rambling on about to him, but instead Matt looked open mouthed at Mari who pulled David into a hug and grinningly gave him her present.

“So I told you about Matt who owns a First Edition Charizard card, right? That’s him.” David gave Matt a pat on his shoulder and went away to lay down Mari’s present next to the others.

When Ian looked back at Mari and Matt, he saw that they were both subconsciously scratching their wrists.

 _Oh_ he thought. Some people had it so much easier than him.

 

-0000 d 0000 h 00 m 00 s-

 

The chairs rumbled in the classroom, an automatic reaction to the shrill alarm declaring the end of the lesson. Ian packed up his unused English materials and slid them into his backpack. Head down, eyes watching his rampaged sneakers, he went to exit the room. He was called back.

“Ian, could we talk for a second?” Mr Padilla asked and Ian stopped in his tracks.

“Sure”, he mumbled and turned around. He had to forcibly tell his body to straighten up and look up into Mr Padilla’s face. Mr Padilla waited for a second, until all students, including a curious looking David, had left the room, and then leaned against his desk.

“I wanted to discuss this in private with you. I was looking through last year’s reports of this course- you know, just to have an idea of what kind of students you are and how to best prepare you for your finals, and I noticed a thing that made me wonder a lot. You had excellent grades last year, Mr Weston noted that you were one of his best and most talented students, always motivated. And this year, you have been awfully quiet. Is everything okay?”

He smiled a kind teacher smile and Ian’s windpipe closed. He nodded.

“Is there anything personal that you want to talk about?”

Ian shook his head. Mr Padilla looked at him with a calculating look, then nodded.

“Okay. If you say so. I know it sounds cheesy and I know that it’s always awkward to open up to teachers, but if there’s anything you want to talk about, you can always ask.”

Ian nodded again. Mr Padilla shifted to grab his calendar from behind him.

“Alright, I still want to make sure that you live up to your talent and therefore I think it would be wise if we would schedule some extracurricular lessons, if that’s okay with you.”

Ian cursed in his head- more time alone with Mr Padilla?

“Hmm.”

“Right, so we both have track on Tuesdays and Fridays”, he smiled again,“and I have a shift in the library every Wednesday, but Thursdays are free with me. What about you?”

“I’m okay with Thursdays”, Ian said.

“So maybe we meet up here in my classroom after sixth period?”

“Okay.”

Mr Padilla noted it down in his calendar and then grabbed his bag. Before they left the classroom, he turned to Ian and smiled, once again, this time more warmly:

“Don’t worry, Ian, really, this is nothing you need to worry about.”

 

-0000 d 0000 h 00 m 00 s-

 

On Wednesday night, Ian thought it might be a good idea to start on the book. He took a bottle of strawberry milk and a plate of cookies with him- he felt like he would need them. It was not that Ian did not enjoy to read, on the contrary, if he liked a book he would re read it till the pages would rip and would turn yellow from the Californian Sun seeping in, but this was something so clearly connected to the fatal end of his countdown his body rebelled against the thought of reading it.

He cuddled into his blanket, switched on his lights and grabbed for the book that he had so often held without ever looking into it. The back of it looked rampaged and several pages were already crumpled due to him carrying it around all the time, so at least it felt as if it was one of Ian’s old and tattered favourites.

He started reading, at first occasionally checking his mobile to answer David’s update on a new roleplay game he had started, but after a while he muted it and threw it carelessly away, eyebrows creasing deeper the more he read. The pages were turned and Ian blocked everything out, the noise of the air conditioner and of his mom vacuuming downstairs while he lost himself in the words. A frown became more prominent on his face and the cookies were long-forgotten on his desk as the case in the book slowly, then all at once unravelled.

Halfway through the book he got up to go to the bathroom, just to immediately head back for it. His feet fell asleep, but he didn’t stop reading, he was too caught up, anxious of how the case would end, he read and he read and before he could realize it, his index finger turned the last page. Ian sat, rigidly, on his bed and stared at the back of the book and tried to process what he had just read. His throat was dry like a desert and his eyes could not even properly focus anymore.

He was so tired but a strange feeling was burning in his chest and he did not know what it was, but between you and me, dear reader, it was the first time Ian felt the sense of injustice not towards himself, but to someone another.

He overslept in the morning and his breakfast consisted of hastily cramming the cookies that had still rested on his desk down his throat and washing them down with some strawberry milk while clumsily trying to put on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt at the same time. He grabbed his bag, ran downstairs, nearly tripped over the vacuum cleaner leaning next to the door, and waved goodbye to his parents.

Despite his effort, he had missed the bus and was now, swearing under his breath, trying to keep up with it, running at full speed.

“You don’t do Track for nothing” he thought while waving his arms wildly, in hopes to make someone in the bus hold the door open for him.

When the bus stopped, Ian wheezed like a defective lawn mower and Joshua, who stood in the bus door, arms folded over his chest, was grinning outrageously.

“Shut up, or else I’ll remind everyone of the time you puked after we did that three mile run” Ian smirked and gave David a high five. Joshua protested loudly for the rest of the drive and it was only too fair they all started teasing him.

 

-0000 d 0000 h 00 m 00 s-

 

The lessons ran away from Ian once again and before he could think straight his sixth period was over and his legs were carrying him to the English classroom. Mr Padilla walked down the hallway and greeted him with a cheery “Hi, Ian” whilst unlocking the door. Instead of sitting down at the teacher’s desk, Mr Padilla took place on a chair opposite from Ian so that they faced each other.

“Right, so I thought that this shouldn’t really be like an extra English lesson, but more like an individual jump-start for you.”

Mr Padilla produced a copy of the book from his bag and it looked just as tattered and read-through as Ian’s did. Ian braced himself for the most exhausting three quarters of an hour of his life. He had never looked at Mr Padilla longer than three seconds at a time. Ian nodded, wordlessly.

“Okay. As I don’t really know how to work with you best, we are simply just going to chat about the book first and see how it goes along.”

 _Great_ , Ian thought.

“Who’s your favourite character?”

“Atticus.”

“Why? One word answers are not allowed.”

“Because... he is the one who defends Tom Robinson.”

“Why should he?”

“Are you serious? Because Mayella lied. He was innocent.”

“How do you know?”

“Because his right hand is crippled and she only had marks on the right side of her face.”

“Why should she lie?”

“Because she was afraid of her father for having a crush on a black man.”

Mr Padilla looked at him, approving. “So you have read the book.”

The next hour consisted of more questions and more answers and it ended in Ian ranting about why Tom Robinson had to flee.

“They had a real chance. Atticus could have gotten them through, he had all the evidence.”

Mr Padilla looked at him and to Ian’s surprise, there was a sad smile edged into the corners of his mouth:

“You'd think so, wouldn’t you?”

 

-0000 d 0000 h 00 m 00 s-

 

They met up every Thursday from then on. Ian decided that although Mr Padilla had ruined his life he was not actually that bad of a person. For Ian, it was almost a bit like a peace treaty when he found himself raising his hand to answer the question whether Boo Radley’s ending was justified or not.

An awkward moment was when Ian and Mr Padilla turned up to Track both wearing the same Mario Kart T-shirt. No one seemed to think anything of it but Mr Padilla confessed to him on his way back to the school that he owned every single Mario game out there.

“Even ‘Mario Teaches Typing’?” Ian asked, before he could stop himself.

“I regret a lot of the choices that I have made in my life” Mr Padilla said.

 

The next Thursday, he rummaged in his bag only to show Ian the old and tattered case of ‘Mario Teaches Typing’.

“I thought we only do half a lesson today since I already gave you regular homework to do... and then we let Mario check how good your Orthography is.”

Ian grinned, against his own will.

“Deal.”

Ian had not expected his English teacher be so competitive over a computer game that had been released in 1991. He nearly chucked the mouse away when he accidentally slipped and spelled “Lithuania” with two n’s.

“You haven’t _really_ won. You are just lucky.”

Ian grinned, for a moment forgetting who was sitting next to him:

“Not only bad at the subject you are teaching, but also a foul loser.”

Mr Padilla opened his mouth to reply something but the bell rung and they realized where and what they were.

“Well, congratulations on spelling ‘precociousness’ right, Ian.”

He winked and slung the bag over his shoulder.

When Ian was at the door he was sure he heard Mr Padilla mutter “But I still won” under his breath. 

 

The week had not been as bad as expected- Mr Padilla missed during Track on Friday and their Coach proclaimed that there would be a scholarship in sight for those particularly good in their group, patting Ian heartily on the back.

Going to bed that night Ian had the feeling that maybe not _everything_ was going downhill. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys don't mind my habit of a) slow posting and b) slow building too much.  
> I wish you guys a Merry Christmas if you celebrate it and relaxing holidays!  
> Thank you very much for reading!  
> Cheers, Lucy xx

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is the beginning of my new story, and as you all might have guessed, it's a Soulmate!AU.  
> It's inspired by this post: http://filzmonster.tumblr.com/post/85627609221/faggotsandcupcakes-xxarcane  
> Let's see what I'll make of it!  
> I hope you enjoy,  
> Lucy


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